At present, the medical arts include a broad array of dressings, bandages and wound coverings, many of which consist of nothing more than a strip of fabric secured to a patient by some sort of fastening device. These dressings often are wrapped around the patient's body, the tightness of the wrap being relied upon to hold the dressing in place. Unfortunately, most conventional dressings tend to rotate or slide across the wound due to prying fingers or movement of the patient's body. This in turn may result in removal of any salves, ointments and/or medicaments from the dressing, leading to patient discomfort, and quite possibly to infection of the patient's wound. These undesirable effects may be exacerbated where the wound is uncovered, or where the dressing becomes loose, as is common where conventional dressings are used to cover a joint such as a knee, elbow or hip.
To address these problems, some physicians have proposed the use of adhesive tape to secure dressings in place over wounds, the tape generally being adhered directly to the patient's skin. Such an arrangement, however, is not entirely satisfactory. Adhesive tape, for example, may loosen due to body movement or patient perspiration, and may cause injury due to forces exerted on the patient's skin. Also, although adhesive tapes generally are capable of a degree of conformance to a body surface when first applied, they do not accommodate movement of the body surface itself. If applied over a joint, movement of the body may cause the tape to pull away from the skin, may damage the surrounding tissue, or may even restrict movement of the joint. Conventional use of adhesive tape, thus may lead to an increased potential for patient injury and/or infection of the wound.
Known dressings also have experienced problems due to wicking, an effect whereby bacteria or other contaminants may be drawn into a dressed wound along a fluid path. This problem has proven especially troublesome in postoperative dressings, particularly those which are asked to absorb substantial amounts of blood or other fluid from a wound. If unaddressed, such fluids can define a channel along which bacteria and other contaminants can pass to the wound. Again, infection or injury may result. Where the dressing is compressive, the potential for injury further may be increased due to the pressure which the dressing places on the anatomy surrounding the wound (e.g., blood vessels and nerves in the popliteal space). Such dressings also have been known to adhere to a wound or surrounding skin, raising the potential for shear injury to the skin when the dressing is removed. Additionally, known compressive dressings have been criticized as difficult to apply, particularly where the dressing is constructed at the time of application so as to produce a dressing for a patient-specific, or wound-specific use.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a dressing which may be readily secured to a wound and held in place during movements of the patient's body.
The invention also is intended to provide a compressive, protective barrier to infection and prying fingers without unduly restricting patient movement.
Another object of the invention is to provide a dressing with an absorbent pad configured to draw fluid away from a wound without providing increased access to bacteria or other contaminants.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a medicated dressing which will not unduly adhere to the patient's wound or skin.